Retro Ralston Rocket – Stand by to raise ship!

Flack’s recent post on the Futuro Homes reminded me of another awesome historical space-themed construct, the “Ralston Rocket”. The fun juvenile radio serial “Space Patrol” sponsored by Ralston cereals, put on a contest in 1953 to provide a name for the mysterious “Planet X” discovered in the show. The prizes were pretty amazing, culminating in a grand prize of a 35 foot long steel playhouse modeled after the Space Patrol ship “Terra IV”. To take it a step further, the lucky winning kid would not be bound to playing with this 10,000 pound behemoth in their own back yard, because it came with a custom flatbed truck and trailer!

The Solar Guard website has tons of details on the contest, all of the great prizes and the whereabouts of this and other cool rockets. The site is a bit difficult to navigate, but well worth the effort!

I am a junior-grade retroist working out of the NW office, close to my Retro cave in Woodland, WA. I enjoy old video games, toys, books, movies, band-aid tins full of old Cracker Jack prizes and long walks on the beach.